Starsong
Starsong is the world where the Sleepless adventures take place. It is the second planet from the sun, Talanas. It is orbited by two moons; Yslach and Songbird. The name "Starsong" comes from a theory that it was born from the dying song of Azarus, before being revived only to be flayed. The name comes from the idea that dying stars were reborn in the songs of dying gods, as some kind of cruel resurrection. Throughout Starsong's long, strange history, it has been called a "Purgatory" world, something that magisters and scholars have heard from creatures of the heavens. This has lead many to believe that the cycle of cataclysms and wars are the result of some grand mystery, some kind of punishment. Geography Starsong is comparable to Earth, but more stretched tall than wide like our own world. The world was once comprised of two continents; Belisaere and Lidelas and a large isle, the Dor Isle, but after the Shattering it was shaped into our current world. Following the later years of the Age of Magic, Yurimar disappeared entirely, taken all those within, with it. Continents * Dawnforge: The birth continent, the central landmass of the world. A homeland to Dwarves, Elves, Men and monsters where they live across diverse landscapes. * Boletaria: The south-most continent, Boletaria is a mostly hot arid realm of desert, jungle and mountains. Those within are divided by geography and strange theocratic bonds. * Aerrune: The north-most continent, Aerrune is a frozen tundra ruled by a coalition of united races and tribes with a unique philosophy. * Carthus: The east-most continent, once the home of demons. It is a twisted, wasted land where the strange people within live in a stranger land. * Drangleic: The colossus of continents, the home of exiled dragons. It is so large nobody has ever explored it in its entirety. * Yurimar: The missing continent, it disappeared in a massive surge of arcane energy. It was once a massive continent, home to warring tribes of Dwarves, Goliaths and many others. Isles * Arl'Skellig * The Reaching Isles * Corpsewater Coast * The Shattered Isles Islands * Oolacile * Mihanji * Zena * Zothique * Molvis * Caath * Tessar * Temris * Colossa * Paradiso * Cyrail * Gemseed Seas and Oceans * The Abyssal Ocean: North of Dawnforge, separates it from Aerrune. * The Sea of Glass: South of Dawnforge, separates it from Boletaria. * The Shivering Sea: West of Aerrune, separates it from Drangleic. * The Expanse: North of Aerrune. * The Bleeding Sea: East of Dawnforge, separates it from Carthus. * The Empty White: South of Boletaria. * The Deep Sea: Surrounds Starsong. Other * The Skylands * Amendaso * Laerve * Thorolund * Persana * Jogunspeak Inhabitants Mortals Monsters More History Preface Time is convoluted. This is something you will see and hear a lot when talking about Starsong. Time is measured by interesting or disturbing things happening. An age is defined by its cataclysm; the Old World had the Doom, the Age of Fire had the Shattering, the Age of Magic has the Collision. This is a collection of relevant things that have happened over 9000 (and change) years of Starsong’s existence. And in the Beginning… There was the Black, the Big Nothing; the Void. Then something happened, and that black became home to a world. The Eight Scribes said this world was called Starsong, but didn’t have anything but theories why. The Age of the Old World – Time Unknown * First there was war; the Gods of the Old World battled the Chaos Gods, their followers the forces of mortal kind versus the forces of chaos, for the first time * Given the fact we live in relative peace, that means mortals won * Science and technology thrives for an unknown period of time, but definitely a long time * Gnomes are leading this age of innovation while mortals squabble * Eventually demons get interested and something called the Torment Crusade begins * After the Torment Crusade and the world returns to normality, the Doom occurs * The Doom buries all traces of the Old World, leaving nothing behind but a drowning, empty nothing The Age of Fire – 5370 years * The first breed of new humans, the Saltborn, battle the first new breed of elves, the Candlelit * The Ironheart dwarves don’t seem to care, they horde all manner of minerals and worship strange gods * Eventually the Saltborn and Candlelit call a truce * There was only two continents back in this age; Belisaere and Lidelas, plus the Dor Isle * Lands in Lidelas were Liven, Tristin, Kulka’as, Coastrock and Yonas * Belisaere is a land of humanoids, while Lidelas split into regions of different humans * Orcs are created by the Harbingers of Chaos, who fight humans, elves, anyone from nomadic tribe clans, starting the Scattered War, a series of skirmishes against the other races for their Chaos Gods * The Decay wipes out nearly every Gnome, causing them to almost de-evolve * Unexpectedly, the dragons arrive—from the Moon, Songbird. They bring word of their god, and offer mortals a choice; join or die. * Naturally mortal kind refuses. * Ends with the Shattering, a dragon weapon that caused the world to split apart, also creating the Underdark when several regions fell into the earth. * These two continents and its lands became the new continents. The Age of Magic - Current year is 4388 The Time of Dark – 2300 years * Humans are enslaved by dragons, forced to build the city of Rekingor in Drangleic. * Turns out the dragons sided with demons, who build Carthus * Giants, elves and dwarves try to free humanity * During this time the Nameless King is overthrown by King Anduril the Imlirith, who builds the Weapon * The Weapon being one so terrible the dragons surrender upon its use, thus marking the Time of Dark The Time of Rebirth – 890 years * Humans return to the world below and see it changed * Begin to colonize Askaria, Aerrune, Boletaria, Yurimar and Carthus * Humans, elves and dwarves colonize Aerrune together after a short, pointless war * Invading humans fight against the united forces of Boletarian natives, lead by a nameless Sun King. The Sun King is defeated, and Boletaria is split into three sections; Karneria, Djaal and Saine. * Carthus is colonized by humans, but turns out Drow have been living in the shadows of the demon city, marking the beginning of the Endless War. * Yurimar is colonized by dwarf lords but it is so large that they don’t notice the native races for many years. * Askaria is ruled by the Mad King Jaret, Old Okri Margol and King Anduril the Imlirith. * The Mad King is killed by the Slave Knight Gael after the Taenibirian Rebellion, revealing him to be a gold dragon in disguise. * The First Sword King is placed in power over Citadel, and the other kings agree to rename Askaria to Dawnforge in honour of the Time of Rebirth * Soon, life becomes vaguely normal, until the Collision marks the end of the Time of Rebirth The Time of Chaos – 410 years * The Collision shakes the world as monsters arrive * Introduction of monsters brings the Chaos Gods back to power, but also heightens the power and intensity of magic everywhere * Possibly a million are killed in the ensuing war of those fighting alongside monsters, the Forces of Chaos, against the forces of mortal kind, the Alliance. * During the Last War, Chaos infects Saine. Saine battles against Karneria while Djaal is trapped inbetween. This begins the War of the Red Sand, which continues today. * Ends upon the end of the Last War, with the Alliance barely pulling through The Time of Innovation – 785 years * With the introduction if monsters, industry and magic thrive * Many schools of magic are started, most notably the School of the Golden Sun * The Vandelimon Family begin to dig up old gnomish technology * The Endless War goes quiet and nobody hears from what is happening within Carthus * The Massacre of Muraska occurs, killing one-third of its population * The Raven Queen is killed by Ubik the Voidless, causing Gevrauche to become the God of both Death and Time * The Queen with a Thousand Teeth begins a conquest to the east of Dawnforge, causing ruin throughout * Ends with the Red Harvest and Yurimar disappearing The Time of Unrest – 3 years * The Red Harvest sows a lot of distrust towards all Shicts * The disappearance of Yurimar causes a lot of blame, but no-one to point it at * The Endless War, the War of the Red Sands, the Death of the Void and the recent Invasion cause this time to be named the Time of Unrest, for now Glossaries * Ordinary Life * Swords and Sorcery * The Natural World Unnatural * Shared Myths